A Message in a Bottle
by Awesome Rapidash
Summary: Jack takes some time out of his busy day to do some fishing. But he finds something unexpected, a bottle that contains an important message for someone. How will that effect that persons life? Read and find out!


_**A/N: **__This is based off of Leia's yellow heart event in the DS version. I added my on take on the event and I hope everyone enjoys reading it. _

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Harvest Moon. I do own a copy of the game though. _

_**A Message in a Bottle**_

Jack smiled to himself as he finished up the last of his chores. He looked up at the sun and noticed that the blazing yellow orb still hung relatively high in the cloudless bright blue sky.

He stepped into his home and walked over to his tool storage box and opened it. After a bit of rummaging around, he found want he was looking for. He stood back up and looked at the fishing pole he held in his left hand. _"Some fishing will be a nice way to relax,"_ he mused happily.

He walked out of the farmhouse and headed in the direction of the beach. It didn't take him long to arrive on the sandy shores of Forget Me Not Valley's beachfront. A childish grin filled the brown haired farmer's face as he kicked off his heavy brown work boots and stepped onto the soft cool sand. He walked down to the waters edge and found a spot that seemed to appeal to the angler in him.

But after almost 30 minutes of casting that yielded nothing, he began to wonder if anything was even biting at this time of the day.

"One last cast," he said out loud, giving the pole a strong flip and sending the lure far out into the sparkling azure water. As he began to reel in the line a frown appeared on his face. He sighed softly as the fishing line returned without resistance. Suddenly that changed and the line became ridged and the tip of the fishing pole bent over. Excitement immediately replaced his disappointment as he carefully reeled in the line.

He stepped into the warm surf in anticipation of pulling in a large fish, but as the last of the line was reeled in a scowl filled the young farmer's face. "All that work for a bottle?!" he exclaimed loudly, holding up the green colored glass bottle hooked to the end of the line. He reached out and removed the bottle from the hook and was about to toss it to the side when he noticed that there was something inside of the bottle. Now curiosity replaced the disappointment he had just been feeling.

"_It looks like a message in a bottle,"_ he said to himself. _"I wonder who could have sent it."_

The farmer sat down on the soft sand and examined the bottle. He noticed that the top was tightly sealed with what appeared to be some sort of a light colored cork. In spite of several attempts with his pocket knife, he was unable to remove it. He held the bottle up and reexamined the contents. He tried to read what was written on the paper contained within it, but the dark green glass prevented him from seeing the message clearly.

Add to that what bits of the message that he could see, appeared to be a language that the farmer didn't recognize. He took the bottle and placed it into his backpack and after packing up his fishing pole he headed towards the one person in the valley who he figured might be able to help him; Daryl.

It took Jack only a short time to walk to the scientist's lab. He stepped up to the imposing metal door and gave it a knock. He stood back and waited for it to be opened. He didn't have to wait long before the door creaked open and Daryl's face peered out at him.

"Hello Jack, what can I do for you?" he questioned curiously. "Or are you here to visit Leia?"

"I'm here to see you," the farmer answered. "I found something today and I need your help to figure out what it is."

Daryl nodded and opened the door to allow the brown haired farmer inside. "So what is this item?" he asked.

Jack reached into his backpack and pulled out the bottle and held it out to the scientist. "This. I was fishing on the beach and I reeled it in."

The eccentric scientist reached out and took the dark green bottle and looked at it. He then looked over at the young man standing next to him. "Um, this is a glass bottle Jack, what more can I tell you about it?"

Jack shook his head. "I know it's a bottle, that's not what I was talking about. It's what's inside the bottle that I need your help with."

"There is something inside?" Daryl questioned curiously as he held the bottle up and looked inside. "Ah, I see. It appears to be a note of some sort."

"Yeah, and the bottle is closed by a cork," Jack pointed out. "I tried to open it with my pocketknife, but it wouldn't budge."

The scientist examined the top of the bottle carefully. "Yes, I see. Perhaps I have a tool that can open this."

Jack nodded and watched as the white coat clad man moved over to a large white cabinet and opened it. Inside the farmer could see all manner of gleaming tools. He guessed that these were the tools that Daryl used to perform his experiments.

"Aha, this should do the trick." Daryl exclaimed, stepping back and holding up a shiny instrument. "This is my Super Ultra Great Delicious Wonderful Corkscrew! Surely it will be able to remove the bottle's stopper."

Jack watched intently as the scientist made several attempts to remove the cork.

The scientist used this long named screw that didn't exactly look 'delicious' on the cork. But, it still wouldn't budge. "Hm, this doesn't seem to be working as well as I expected it would." Daryl sighed. "I think this might call for a more drastic measure!"

He walked back over to the cabinet and replaced the corkscrew back onto the shelf. He looked around for a moment before reemerging with a second corkscrew. This one was red in color and had yellow tipped handles.

"I should have figured that something like this would require the use of my Hyper Miracle Sweet Gorgeous Beautiful Corkscrew!" He said, showing the corkscrew to the farmer proudly.

"I hope this one works, I'm really curious about that note," Jack added. But he was also curious about the name of the corkscrew. Just like the last one it had a really long name. At least it wasn't labeled delicious. It's not like they were talking about an apple after all!

But once again it seemed that the bottle would thwart their attempts to remove its cork. Guess it wasn't a 'miracle' corkscrew after all.

"It doesn't look like it's working Daryl," Jack pointed out. "Maybe we aren't supposed to be able to remove it?"

"Nonsense Jack, there is no scientific reason why I can't remove a simple cork from a bottle."

Jack shook his head. "Well, it doesn't seem like we're having much luck."

"That's because we need to use the right tool," Daryl replied. "I think this will require an even more specialized tool for us to achieve success." He returned once again to the tool cabinet and searched a bit more.

"This will defiantly do the trick!" he chirped. "I should have figured that it would take my Angel Eternal Pure Fresh Elegant Corkscrew to succeed here."

"I hope that doest the trick too," Jack agreed as he watched once again as the scientist attempted to uncork the bottle. But one thing was puzzling and it wasn't the bottle. Those corkscrews had awfully long names. And they didn't seem to work either. Or at least the last two didn't.

10 more minutes passed and the bottle still showed no signs of giving up its contents. Well, that just proved that the third corkscrew didn't work, just like the other two. Were they useless or something?

"I just don't understand this," Daryl said in an exasperated gasp. "I thought that this one would have worked for sure."

Jack looked around the lab and noticed a plain looking corkscrew sitting on the table nearby. "What about that one?" He asked curiously, pointing to the shiny metal kitchen implement.

"But that's just a simple corkscrew," Daryl retorted. "How could it possibly succeed where the others have failed?"

"I think it's worth a shot," Jack said as he walked over and picked up the corkscrew. "What have we got to loose?"

The scientist shrugged his shoulders and took the corkscrew from the brown haired young man. Both watched in amazement as it easily removed the cork from the neck of the bottle. Well, Daryl was the one that was actually amazed anyway.

"I can't believe it! But that simple corkscrew was able to remove it!" Daryl said, holding up the cork and the corkscrew. "I would have never believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes."

Jack tipped the bottle up and after a bit of tapping on the bottom and coaxing he removed the note. He set the bottle down and unfolded the note. "But this is written in some type of a foreign language."

Jack handed the note to the scientist and he examined it carefully. A few minutes passed before he lifted his head and looked over at the farmer. "I think this might be a message meant for Leia."

"For Leia you say?" Jack asked curiously. "Why do you think that?"

"I'm not sure how to explain it. But there is one sure way to find out." he said, turning and walking towards the stairway to the basement. "We'll just ask her to see if she can read it."

Jack followed the elder man down the stairs and into the basement. Even before he got to the bottom, he could hear Leia splashing around in her tub. He gave the green haired mermaid a smile and a wave once he reached the bottom of the staircase. "Hello Leia, how are you doing?"

"Hi Jack!" She chirped back. "I'm doing well, all things considered."

"Jack found this bottle today and it had a letter inside," Daryl explained, holding up the dark green glass bottle. "We can't understand the language it's written in, but since it was in the ocean I thought that you might be able to read it."

Leia's expression became rather serious upon hearing that the bottle was found in the ocean. "May I see it please?"

Jack nodded and handed the note to her and she looked down at the words written across the paper. A small gasp escaped her lips as she looked at the letter in her hands. She didn't expect to be getting something from her mother, though she did send a note of her own.

The green haired mermaid had gotten homesick some time ago, and she worried about her mother. If she knew her, the elder mermaid would have making a fuss, wondering if her daughter was okay. So, Leia decided that she should send a letter to her mom to let her know how she was doing, and she asked Daryl to send it out. And now, she got this note.

_Leia,_

_I know that for a while now you have been staying in the human world. I want you to know that I've become quite concerned about your welfare. Living in a small tub like you have is not good for a mermaid's health. You need to have the freedom of the open ocean to swim in. _

_With that said, I want to ask you to return to the mermaid world and back to us. We miss you terribly and I hope that you will return to us soon. _

_Love, _

_Your mom, Akiko_

Jack noted her sadness and stepped over to the edge of her tank. "Is it something bad?" He asked curiously.

"The letter… it's a letter from my mom," she replied. "She says that she's worried about me living here in this tub and she wants me to return home."

"It's a letter from your mom?" Jack repeated. "And she wants you to return home. What will you do?"

"Would you like to return home?" Daryl asked. "I'll understand if you want this. After all, I can understand that you miss your home and your family."

The young mermaid paused for a few minutes to think about the question. "Yes, I think it's time that I returned home," she said softly.

Daryl seemed to take her answer the hardest. "Are you sure that's what you want to do?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"Yes, I do," she answered. "I really have enjoyed my time here with you Daryl. But I really think it is time for me to be back with my family."

The scientist nodded. "If that is your wish then I will not oppose your choice." He looked over at Jack. "May I ask your assistance in helping Leia get back to the sea?"

The brown haired farmer nodded. "Sure, what can I do to help?"

"Can you bring her down to the ocean?" Daryl asked hopefully. "I'd do it myself, but not long ago, I injured my back and I cannot lift her."

Jack gave an affirmed nod and walked over to the fishy girl's tub. "I can take you there now if you'd like."

"I really would appreciate that Jack," she said with a smile.

After saying thank you and goodbye to Daryl, Jack hoisted the mermaid onto his back and carefully brought the girl back down to the beach. There he gently placed her into the warm ocean water and stood back.

"I'm sure that your mom and family will be thrilled to see you. We'll miss visiting you, but I know that this is for the best," Jack said with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"You know, this isn't goodbye forever," she explained with a reassuring smile. "I'll come by and visit you and Celia."

Jack returned the mermaid's smile. "That would be nice. I'm sure she'll want to see you again."

Leia's smile grew even wider. "I'm sure that you and Celia will have a wonderful life and I'm happy that you were a part of mine. Please be sure to thank Daryl again for me."

Jack returned the mermaid's broad smile with one of his own. "Thank you Leia! Good luck, take good care of yourself!"

Leia gave the brown haired young man a smile before turning and with a few powerful kicks of her orange and purple tailfin disappearing into the vastness of the ocean. Jack stood and watched for a few minutes, before heading back to his farm. A smile filled his face, knowing that at long last Leia would be able to return to her home and be reunited with the family that missed her.

_*Smiles* I hope everyone liked this as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always please take a moment and leave your thoughts and comments in a review, thank you! Ja ne._


End file.
